by Mi Lei
Sitting in the back of Xiao Wang's Santana moments later, Fang Mu's eyes aimlessly wandered the streets and faces flashing by. He found a sense of comfort in his complete detachment from the lives of the people out there. It gave him the freedom to imagine their stories, unshackled by certainty.
Out of the corner of his eye, Fang Mu noticed Xiao Wang stealing glances at him in the rearview mirror. Fang Mu just smiled and turned his attention back on the world outside the window. From the first handshake, it had been obvious that Xiao Wang doubted his credentials as an expert on criminal psychology. He did not really mind; it was far from the first time that had happened to him.
"Elder Brother Fang, are you married?" the young officer asked out of nowhere.
"I am not," Fang Mu turned back to the driver. "And don't call me 'Elder Brother'; I very much doubt that I am older than you."
"Oh." Xiao Wang jumped at the opportunity. "How old are you then?"
"Twenty-eight." Fang Mu smiled at Xiao Wang in the rearview mirror. "And you?" he returned the question.
"Twenty-nine." Xiao Wang turned his eyes back to the road. "Great. Wonderful. I had no idea you would be this young. You must really be some kind of genius."
"Not at all." A faint shade of crimson crept across Fang Mu's face.
"I'm sure everything will work out just fine," Xiao Wang said with a laughed. "After all, Chief Bian personally recommended you. I am sure you know what you're doing."
Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in front of a hotel. Somewhat puzzled, Fang Mu studied the building. A sign prominently displayed its name: Oasis Hotel.
"We're not going to the Bureau?" he asked Xiao Wang. All police activity ran through the Public Security Bureaus. Normally, he would have expected to be given lodging at the Suijing City Municipal Bureau during his time there. They got out of the vehicle.
"No," Xiao Wang replied as he accompanied him to the hotel's front door. "Our Bureau's lodgings are not really up to snuff. We couldn't really offer them to a specialist like yourself," he explained as they walked in.
For a moment, Fang Mu considered pointing out that this was not really necessary, but they were already there and he certainly did not want to get in the way of his hosts' plans. So, he followed Xiao Wang to the elevator and up to Room 1212. Several people were already sitting in the room when they arrived. They all rose the moment Fang Mu stepped through the door.
"This is Fang Mu, the expert on criminal psychology the Provincial Department sent us," Xiao Wang said by way of introducing him to the people in the room. "This is our Deputy Commissioner, Wang Keqin. This is Captain Deng Xiaosen, and this is Deputy Captain Xu Tong."
Even though Fang Mu was the youngest person in the room, they all treated him with extraordinary politeness and respect. As Deputy Commissioner Wang shook his hand, he even assured him, "We will be at your disposal in the coming days."
Fang Mu had never learned the proper protocol for dealing with high-ranking officials and so he was left with little option other than to repeatedly nod in agreement as the men in the room began a lighthearted conversation about nothing in particular. But when Deputy Commissioner Wang gruffly commanded Xiao Wang to make preparations for lunch, he could no longer hold his tongue.
"I am not hungry, and anyway, it's too early," Fang Mu said as he put on his glasses. "Let's discuss the case."
Within seconds, his previously so animated hosts fell into silence.
Deputy Commissioner Wang looked from one face to the next before finally pointing at Captain Deng. "Deng, would you do the honors?"
Four days ago, Pei Lan, a 26-year-old woman, had gone missing. It was reported—and this was confirmed by the victim's boyfriend—that the two of them had dinner at a local restaurant. After they paid the bill, Pei Lan left for the restroom. More than 20 minutes passed, but she did not return. Concerned, her boyfriend sent a waitress to check on Pei Lan. The waitress found the restroom completely empty. Pei Lan's boyfriend then called her cell phone, but it was found ringing from the restroom's wastepaper basket. At this point, he informed the police. After the officers had inspected the scene, their preliminary finding was that Pei Lan had likely been kidnapped.
The next morning, a video cassette arrived at the home of Pei Lan's family that confirmed the police's suspicions: This was indeed a kidnapping. Curiously, the tape contained no ransom demand from the kidnapper. It took another day before someone finally called Pei Lan's parents and demanded two million yuan for her safe return.
The police were able to track the kidnapper's cell phone to the central business district, but the caller had disappeared without a trace. The phone itself turned out to be another dead end. It was a burner that the kidnappers would almost certainly never use again. Faced with a thin list of leads, the police were convinced that a breakthrough in the case would hinge on two critical elements: First, how had the kidnapper taken the victim from the restaurant? And second, the video tape. They were especially interested in the latter, watching it over and over again. But so far they had been unable to glean any worthwhile leads from the tape. In the end, the local police decided to call upon the Provincial Public Security Department for assistance from an expert on criminal psychology. That was where Fang Mu came in.
After listening to Captain Deng's summary of the case, Fang Mu sat in silence, staring at the wall. "The victim," he eventually inquired, "what does she do?"
The others responded with blank stares.
It was Xiao Wang who finally answered. "She's a TV star. Been in a lot of stuff." Then he added with a smile, "You don't watch TV dramas, do you?"
That explained it. If this were someone ordinary, Fang Mu would have expected a ransom demand of two, maybe three-hundred-thousand. At two million there had to be something special about the victim. "Was the person making the ransom demand male or female?" he asked. "Was there anything unusual about the voice?"
Xiao Wang was about to tell him when his cell phone rang. He answered the call and immediately his expression noticeably darkened.
The entire room fell silent. All eyes were glued to Xiao Wang and his phone.
A few minutes later, Xiao Wang finally hung up. With a bitter smile, he told them, "The kidnapper has called again." He paused. "The ransom demand has just been raised to four million yuan."
A heavy shroud seemed to settle over the room as they continued to stare at Xiao Wang in silence. Four million was no small sum. At this rate, they and the victim's family would be under serious pressure. The thought chilled them all.
Only Fang Mu smiled. "How interesting."
At his request, Xiao Wang took Fang Mu straight to the Bureau to watch the kidnapper's video. Xiao Wang set up the equipment in one of the meeting rooms. Then, he pressed the remote control into Fang Mu's hand and turned to leave.
At the door, he told Fang Mu, "Have a look at it. I'll be just outside, making sure that no one interrupts you. Just call me when you're done."
Fang Mu was baffled. So the kidnapper had sent a video; why all the pretense?
Xiao Wang saw the growing doubt on Fang Mu's face. With a smile he explained. "We've all seen it, but we don't really know what to make of it. Still," he said, pointing at the video recorder, "the fewer people who see it, the better." Again he paused. "It's shot like some kind of porn."
Xiao Wang was right. The video tape contained a total of eight minutes and 47 seconds of film. More than half of it was close-up footage of the victim's breasts and privates. As he watched the tape, Fang Mu could feel the blood rush to his ears. Needing to relax and compose himself, he took out a cigarette and slowly began to smoke. Gradually, Fang Mu managed to fully immerse himself in the detached, clinical analysis the material demanded. He fast-forwarded and rewound, back and forth and back again, carefully studying every detail of the video. The moment he finally stopped the cassette at a freeze-frame, he heard a clamor from the corridor outside.
He was about to stand when the door was thrown open with a bang. A man,
his face flushed red, burst into the room. Behind him was a very anxious Xiao Wang.
"Mr. Liang, please calm down..." Xiao Wang called out as he reached to stop the intruder.
The man swatted Xiao Wang's hand aside and then glared at Fang Mu. Without so much as a word, he looked down at Fang Mu's crotch.
"Like what you're seeing?" the man finally asked, narrowing his eyes. His voice was quiet, but full of malice. "Was it an eye-opener?"
As the man spoke, Fang Mu caught a strong whiff of alcohol. With a frown, he turned to Xiao Wang.
"This is Liang Zehao, the victim's boyfriend," Xiao Wang explained with a forced smile. He set out to manhandle the drunken man out of the room. "Please leave, sir. We're working the case..."
"Working your cock!" Liang Zehao had no intention of letting himself be removed. "Don't you fucking think I know what the fuck you are up to? Enjoying it? Does it get you off?" he screeched as he pointed to the picture on the monitor.
"Mr. Liang!" Fang Mu immediately shot back, his voice cold as ice. "I understand how you feel. However, we are currently working on how to rescue your girlfriend. And any time we lose to your antics is time she does not have…"
"And who are you?" Liang Zehao barked, his face going from red to pale. With a brute kick, he toppled one of the chairs. He bellowed, "How dare you talk to me like that?"
"Mr. Liang!" Xiao Wang shouted as he clung to Liang Zehao's arm. Then, more quietly, he implored, "Don't you think you've caused enough trouble?"
"Do you think you little fucks scare me?" Liang Zehao forced himself free. While he was still boiling with rage, Fang Mu's admonishment had clearly hit a mark. For what seemed like an eternity, he stood rooted to the spot, loudly heaving ragged breaths. His eyes remained fixed on Fang Mu. He gave a sudden, violent nod. "Watch it! Go on! Feast your eyes!"
And with that he gave the door a final kick and stalked out of the room.
Xiao Wang could offer little more than a bitter, apologetic smile. Pursing his lips, he turned to the video recorder and asked, "How's it going? Have you found anything?"
Fang Mu nodded. "I would like to have a look at the crime scene."
The Rongfu Universe was a newly opened shopping mall in the center of town. It had six levels of shops, a level for cinemas and karaoke bars on top of those and, on the eighth level, the food court and restaurants. On the evening of the crime, Liang Zehao had taken Pei Lan to dinner at a recently opened Thai restaurant called Pattaya. After they had paid the check, Pei Lan had gone to the restroom and disappeared.
Inside, Fang Mu took a quick turn through the restaurant and then requested to see the restroom. Xiao Wang agreed, but to Fang Mu's surprise, began to lead him out of the restaurant. As they walked, he explained that the restaurant had no restrooms of its own and so guests had to make use of the mall's public facilities. They wound their way through at least a hundred feet of mall real estate before ending up in the abandoned recesses of the shopping center. Here the throngs of shoppers thinned as the distance between the ceiling lights increased.
It drew an angry mumble from Fang Mu. "What brain-dead architect thought it would be a good idea to put the toilets here? This is a security nightmare just waiting to happen."
"And that isn't even the half of it," Xiao Wang said with a nod, pointing to the ceiling. "To save costs, they didn't install any security cameras here. These corridors were a dead end for our investigation."
When they reached the ladies' restroom Fang Mu could see that it was still sealed off and locked. Once the floor's superintendent had opened the door for them, Fang Mu finally had a chance to survey the full 150-square-foot panorama of the crime scene. Inside were four stalls, two sinks, and no windows. Compared to the lavish shopping areas outside, the restroom could only be described as dark and cramped.
According to the investigation report, there had been no signs of struggle in the restroom itself. This strongly implied that Pei Lan had been quickly subdued before being taken away. It was one of the aspects of the case that had left the local police puzzled. First of all, Pei Lan stood at a somewhat formidable 5'4" and weighed a hundred pounds. It was almost unimaginable that another woman could have subdued her quickly enough to leave no signs of a struggle, so it seemed obvious that the suspect had to be a male. A man entering a women's restroom would have aroused suspicion. At the time of the crime, the next-door men's toilets had been heavily frequented; so how did the suspect make his way in and out without being noticed by anyone? And that was only the beginning of their headaches. There were no security cameras there, but the same could not be said for the rest of the mall. The investigators could think of no way to drag a kidnapped woman out of the shopping center without appearing on the surveillance footage, yet the investigation had come up empty. The path the suspect had taken from the crime scene remained a complete mystery.
As he silently examined the scene, Fang Mu continued to listen intently to Xiao Wang's account. Finally, he stopped and turned. "Have you personally seen the mall's surveillance footage?"
"I have. There was nothing suspicious on it," Xiao Wang replied, scratching his forehead. "For the suspect to leave with Pei Lan, he must have at the very least been carrying a large carryall bag or something along those lines. But I found no one like that on the tapes."
"Let's have another look," Fang Mu proposed with a smile.
In the security control room, Fang Mu requested the hour of security footage from level eight of the building taken after the kidnapping. Joining him and Xiao Wang was the shift manager and a security guard. As the tapes started to play, Fang Mu took a seat in the corner of the room and quietly studied the recorded bustle of the mall. Not five minutes passed before he jumped out of his chair. He thrust a finger at the screen and shouted, "Stop the video!"
Xiao Wang followed his finger, but try as he might, he could spot nothing of interest. The screen showed several men, frozen in mid-motion, but they were all nearly empty-handed. Not one of them carried anything larger than a small bag.
"There," Fang Mu said, now pointing at a corner of the screen. "That woman."
It was a female cleaner, wearing the same uniform as every other one of the mall's janitorial staff. She was pushing a cleaning-cart down a corridor.
"Where does that corridor lead?" Fang Mu asked the shift manager.
After a moment of thought the man answered. "The west side of the eighth level."
Fang Mu could see the man's eyes darting as he visualized the building.
"We have a Hong Kong-style tea restaurant and a Western-style bakery there," the man said, pursing his lips as he made sure that he had not forgotten anything. "And a service elevator."
"Good." Fang Mu seemed pleased. "The video from the service elevator, quick!"
Sure enough, one minute and 33 seconds later, one monitor showed a cleaner emerging from the service elevator and onto the ground floor of the mall. It was clearly the woman from the previous tape. She slowly pushed her cleaning-cart along the edge of the corridor until she finally disappeared at the top of the screen. There was a marked strain to her movements as she threw her back into every push. This cart was obviously heavier than the usual cart of supplies.
Still unsure, Xiao Wang turned to Fang Mu. "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"
"Yes." Fang Mu continued studying the screen, lost in thought. "It is possible that Pei Lan was in that cleaning-cart."
Xiao Wang all but leaped in front of the screen, wildly gesticulating toward the security guard to enlarge the image. But he was soon disappointed. The woman was wearing a disposable respirator, completely obscuring her face. Xiao Wang, however, did not give up so easily. His eyes bulging, he intently stared at the frame for a few moments. He turned to the shift manager. "Number seventeen," he said. He had reclaimed his outward calm, but his voice quivered with an edge of barely restrained excitement. "Check who was assigned cleaning-cart number seventeen on that day."
Flustered, the shift manager immedi
ately began checking his records. "Chen Juan. Yes." His finger trailed across the data in his records. "She has clocked-in today."
Wang Xiao and Fang Mu exchanged a shocked look as both fell silent. Finally, Fang Mu motioned with his hand. "Call her in. Then you can leave."
Both officers sat themselves at the room's table. Xiao Wang tossed Fang Mu a cigarette and lit one for himself. Inhaling deeply and quickly, he said, "Damn, she wouldn't dare come back to work. It can't be her."
"Let's first talk to her," Fang Mu said with a quick nod. "Perhaps she can still tell us something."
Chen Juan was quickly brought to the security monitoring room. It took no more than a glance for them to know that she could not be the woman from the security footage. Ms. Chen stood no more than five feet tall, was middle-aged, and rather plump. The person they were looking for was at least 5'4" and had somehow managed to look slender even in a bulky cleaner's uniform.
Ms. Chen was terribly nervous. From the moment she entered the room, she began playing with the hems of her garments. She did not even dare to look at them, instead focusing her apprehensive attention on the walls of the room.
After sizing her up, Xiao Wang asked, "Where were you on the seventeenth of September?"
"I was working here," came her cautious answer.
"And you were assigned cleaning-cart number seventeen, is that correct?" Xiao Wang continued.
Her simple and soft, "Yes," affirmed the fact.
"Did you use that cart for the entire day?" Wang pressed on.
Ms. Chen hesitated before finally replying, "Yes," but it almost seemed more of a question than an answer. She glanced up at them, but only to immediately look away again.
Narrowing his eyes, Xiao Wang coldly inquired, "Are you sure about that? Lying will only get you in trouble."